Shafaq News/ On Thursday, Iraqi warplanes carried out intensive airstrikes, targeting Islamic State (ISIS) positions in northwestern Kirkuk as joint security forces launched a major operation in the area, a security source said.

The source told Shafaq News Agency that F-16 fighter jets from the Iraqi Air Force bombed the outskirts of Al-Atshana village in the Dibis district, 65 km northwest of Kirkuk. "The strikes targeted ISIS hideouts and shelters, destroying several of them," the source added.

In parallel with the airstrikes, a joint security force comprising Iraq's Counter-Terrorism Service and the 30th Brigade of the army's 8th Division launched a ground operation to eliminate ISIS positions in the surrounding areas.

The operation is ongoing, and the initial results of the airstrikes have yet to be fully assessed, but the area has seen recent ISIS activity, according to the source.

Despite being declared defeated in Iraq in 2017, ISIS remnants persist in rural and less secure areas, including Kirkuk. The group’s continued presence in the region is attributed to Kirkuk's strategic and ongoing security vacuums, which ISIS exploits to conduct attacks and sustain its foothold.